Back in the Swing of Things
by Addicted2TV
Summary: Lindsey's back from Montana, what now?


Back in the Swing of Things

A/N: I don't own the characters, CBS does, I just borrowed.

Lindsey walked onto the 35th floor, she had practically come straight from the airport, only stopping at her apartment long enough to drop off her stuff. The trial had taken two months, and in the end the guy had walked free. There was too much circumstantial evidence and not enough hard evidence for the jury to get past. Lindsey couldn't identify him as her attacker because she hadn't seen the face of the man who attacked her and her friends. The guy definitely gave her the creeps, but for some reason she wasn't convinced he was the one. She had convinced herself that even after all of this time she would know if she ever saw the man that hurt her and killed her friends.

Seeing the families of her friends who had died was the hardest thing of all. They were all very sweet to her, but she couldn't help feeling guilty around them, that she was there and their daughters weren't.

So the verdict was read and she said goodbye to her friends and family who had come to support her, and then she headed for the airport and caught the first flight back to New York.

She walked straight back to Mac's office. "Hey Mac"

"Lindsey? I didn't expect to see you back yet."

"The jury came in today, so I hopped the first plane back."

Mac raised his eyebrow questioningly.

Lindsey answered his unanswered question. "He was acquitted."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess, I just want to get back to work. I've been sitting around for 2 months."

"Do you think that's a good idea? I think you may need some time to process what's happened."

"I understand your concern Mac, and maybe you're right to an extent, but I've been sitting around doing practically nothing for 2 months. I've got to do something, if you're worried about me messing up a scene maybe you can keep me in the lab for a little while."

"I AM worried about you, but not that you'll mess up a scene, I do think you being on lab duty for a little while might be a good idea. Why don't we try that for a few weeks and see how it goes?"

"Okay Mac, what do you want me to start on?"

"First I want you to go home and get settled back in, why don't you come back tomorrow morning at 8:00?"

"I'm fine to start now Mac, I already stopped at my apartment, and I'm good to go."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely"

"Okay, let's go."

Lindsey followed him to the trace lab.

"Stella and I are working on a double homicide and we've just got the clothes from the M.E. so they need to be checked for trace. I'll stop by and let Stella know that you're joining the case." On his way out he turned back "It's good to have you back"

"Thanks Mac, and thanks for letting me get back to work."

Lindsey was starring so intently at a stain on one of the victims shirts that she didn't hear Danny approach; she jumped when he started talking.

"So Montana, you don't even stop by and say hello … of course you didn't really say good bye either."

Danny stopped teasing when he realized he had really startled her, she was shaking. "Hey, hey, sorry to have scared ya."

Lindsey closed her eyes and breathed in deeply trying to center herself.

"You just startled me is all, and I didn't know you were working today."

Danny eyed her cautiously.

"Yeah well if you had kept in touch the past couple of months you might have known." He teased but there was an underlying tone of hurt that Lindsey could hear.

"Um, I didn't have a lot of spare time, the trial days were long."

"Stella said something about you having to go back to Montana for a court appearance, why didn't you tell me?"

Lindsey wasn't sure what to say, but was spared having to come up with an answer at that moment when Stella and Flack walked into the lab.

"Monroe, welcome back." Flack said.

"Thanks Flack."

Stella walked beside her and put a reassuring hand on Lindsey's shoulder. "Mac stopped by to let me know you were back and helping with our case."

"Yup I wanted to get right back into the swing of things."

"So have you found anything?"

Danny realized that his conversation with Lindsey had effectively ended so he walked out of the lab saying "See you guys later I've got to get back to work."

Lindsey was filling Stella and Flack in on what she had found so far when Stella's pager went off, she left to go check in with Mac leaving Flack and Lindsey alone.

"So how are things in Montana?" Flack asked.

"Um, not great, let's just say that things didn't turn out the way I hoped they would. … So what's the gossip around here?"

"Well the best stuff was probably all the speculation about where you were."

Lindsey raised her eyebrows and paled a little.

"Oh nothing too bad, anything way off the mark and we'd set them straight. I think one of the funniest ones I heard was that you left so you could have our love child."

Lindsey gasped "Our love child?" She couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey now it's not that funny …. Nevermind it is that funny."

After Lindsey stopped laughing and composed herself she asked "So what DO people know about where I was and why I was gone?"

Flack realized she was being serious. "Most know that you were back in Montana for court on a case you had worked there. Why? Lindsey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, um I'm okay; I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay"

There was an awkward silence between them for a little while. "So other than me what other gossip is around?"

"Well Sid seems to have a new lady friend; his stories are really sappy lately so I think he must really like her. Stella has started dating someone we think, but she plays things so close to the chest that it's hard to tell. Mac and Peyton are dating."

Lindsey gave Flack a surprised look "Good for them. So what about you Flack? Any new lucky ladies?"

"Oh no one special, Danny and I went out with a couple of sisters a few times, but I'm not sure that it's got longevity written on it."

Lindsey turned back to her work to try and hide her disappointment at hearing that Danny was dating.

"What about Hawkes?" She tried to ask casually to move the conversation along.

"Nope as far as I know Sheldon is still single, Why, you want me to put in a word with him for you?" Flack teased.

"I don't think I need a word from you since it was his love child that I was actually off having." She looked at him pointedly, and then started to laugh when she could see that Flack was trying to figure out if she was kidding or not.

"That's just evil Monroe" He said.

"I know, now I better get back to work and figure out what this is before Mac and Stella get back."

"Yeah, okay, it's good to have you back"

Lindsey finished up in the lab and reported her findings to Mac and Stella, she was making her way back to the locker room when she saw Danny sleeping at one of the tables in the break room. She was standing in the doorway watching him sleep when he stirred. "So Montana, you going to say hi this time or just stand there?"

"Sorry I didn't mean to bother you." She turned to leave.

"Wait, I didn't say you were bothering me. Besides we never got to finish our conversation earlier. Why didn't tell me you were leaving?"

Lindsey walked in and sat beside him, but kept from making eye contact.

"I went back to Montana for court, but not for a case I had worked, it was a case I was a victim in. When I was 16 my friends and I were having a slumber party, a guy broke in and killed my friends, and I was the only one who survived." Lindsey knew this didn't really explain her behavior, but she couldn't bring herself to talk it out in detail yet.

Lindsey paused and risked a glance at Danny, who sat unmoving just looking at her. So she continued. "They never caught the guy, but a few months back I got word that they had arrested someone and they needed me to go back and testify. The problem is that I don't remember much about the attack, I had a really bad concussion, and I don't think I ever saw the attackers face, or if I did I've lost that memory. They actually didn't end up putting me on the stand."

Danny let out a breath he hadn't realized he was keeping. "So it's over now, they got the guy?"

"Actually no, the guy was acquitted. Not enough evidence. The crime lab messed up and the DNA and blood evidence was destroyed. So they couldn't match the guy definitively to the case."

Lindsey wiped a tear away that had escaped; she was trying so hard not to cry because if she did she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop.

Danny leaned forward and put his hand over hers. "Oh Linds I'm so sorry. Why did they even have you go back there and go through a trial if they didn't have the evidence to convict?"

"I don't know, I think the DA was hoping that I'd be able to ID the guy once I saw him."

"That's an awful lot of pressure to have put on you."

More tears were now escaping down Lindsey's cheeks, she couldn't speak anymore she just closed her eyes and nodded her head. Danny slipped off his chair and stood next to her and rubbed her back, until she had regained her composure.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this before."

"It's okay, I can't even begin to imagine how hard this had been for you."

"Yes but I think I screwed up." Lindsey said.

"What do you mean?"

"I screwed up with you. I pushed you away and now Flack said that you're dating someone."

"Flack said what?"

"He said you guys had been out a few times with a couple of sisters. I know it was silly of me to think you'd wait around for me."

Danny pulled Lindsey up next to him. "I'm going to kill Don." He hugged Lindsey.  
"I just did that as a favor to Flack, and it turns out that the sister was just doing a favor for her sister, and nothing ever happened between us because she's got a girlfriend."

Lindsey looked a little surprised at first, and then couldn't help but smile. "So I didn't screw us up."

Danny pulled a way a little and looked down at here, "Well I didn't say that."

Lindsey frowned and bit her bottom lip. "I'm just teasing Montana." Danny then captured her lips with his.

When they parted he said, "I would've waited forever for you."

A/N: I know that last line is INCREDIBLY sappy, but I just couldn't resist putting it in.


End file.
